The superficiality of this book cannot be overstated. Still, it is a useful pop-cultural document. Halliwell was Ginger Spice in the Spice Girls, the Monkees-/Bay City Rollers-/Sex Pistols-style prefab band that rode a carefully crafted "girl power" media assault to fame and fortune. She treats us to page after page of growing up as the perky, undersized issue of a moderately ne'er-do-well Swedish dad from Liverpool and a feisty, Spanish, Catholic-cum-Jehovah's Witness mom. She pays special attention to her slow bust development, reports wanting to marry George Michael, and says that Lady Di's marriage and transformation into Princess Di show that fairy tales do happen. Snippets from her diary appear throughout, and though only a cynic would question whether they are genuine, they reveal the living, breathing, thinking, feeling human being behind the carefully crafted persona of Ginger Spice. It should be noted that Geri says that Ginger Spice is dead and she, Geri, has matured: "Last week in Los Angeles, I tried on a dress that was a little too tight around the bust. The old Geri would have tried to squeeze into the smaller size, but instead I chose the next size up. For me this was an important step toward self-acceptance." So, publicity ploy or soul-baring journal of a contemporary artiste? Anyone familiar with Geri's role model Madonna's legendary inability to realistically assess herself and her "art" should have no trouble answering that one. There is no denying the probable appeal of this parable in pink gauze, but the sugar sensitive should also be alerted to adequately prepare for it.
Mike Tribby
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Kurzbeschreibung
Like many starstruck girls, Geri Halliwell grew up with one ambition. She wanted to be famous. She had the drive, the energy, the fierce determination to succeed. If only she could get that one lucky break - that one chance - she'd prove to all the doubters that she could make it, and make it big. But as Geri discovered, the road to fame can be a rocky one. Often broke and desperately lonely, her life became an endless round of failed auditions and dead-end jobs. Even her stint as a glamour model and her role as a game show host in Turkey failed to gain her a foothold on the ladder to fame. Until one day, almost reluctantly, she answered an ad in "The Stage". Someone was looking for candidates to form an all-girl band. The rest is history. As Ginger Spice, Geri's stage presence was formidable, her outfits legendary. The Spice Girls enjoyed a succession of number one hits, two successful albums and a box office hit movie. But Geri wanted her feet back on the ground. It was time to walk away, to find out who she was when she wasn't Ginger Spice. Amidst a blaze of media speculation Geri left the Spice Girls in May 1998. Now focusing on her solo career, and with a number one hit single and bestselling album already to her credit, Geri also works tirelessly for charities such as the UN's Breast Cancer Care campaign and Comic Relief. At its heart "If Only" is about fame and the rollercoaster journey one young girl took from obscurity to the world of her dreams. Believing fame would provide the answer to life's problems, she came to understand that the real solutions lie elsewhere.
von Geri Halliwell
